


New Discovery

by landofhorses



Category: The Hunger - Alma Katsu
Genre: Eddy has Never Had a Thought in his Life, F/M, His brain is TV Static, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Non-Graphic Descriptions of Cannon Domestic Abuse, Period-Typical Homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:41:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/landofhorses/pseuds/landofhorses
Summary: Glaucus pawed at the ground with one of his hooves, his rider’s restlessness making him feel uneasy. Reed gave the creature a couple of pats to its side, an attempt to calm him down. This, however, did little to quell the rising tide of anxiety Reed felt, especially as Eddy moved to stand in front of his horse.“Get down here and talk to me like a real man.” Eddy huffed, tilting his head upwards so that Reed could feel the full effect of the glare that was sent in his direction. Standing at over six-foot tall he was likely unused to looking up at anybody
Relationships: Eleanor Eddy/William Eddy, James Reed/William Eddy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	New Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> I will continue to name my The Hunger fics after The Crane Wives' songs until somebody comes and stops me.

Glaucus pawed at the ground with one of his hooves, his rider’s restlessness making him feel uneasy. Reed gave the creature a couple of pats to its side, an attempt to calm him down. This, however, did little to quell the rising tide of anxiety Reed felt, especially as Eddy moved to stand in front of his horse. 

“Get down here and talk to me like a real man.” Eddy huffed, tilting his head upwards so that Reed could feel the full effect of the glare that was sent in his direction. Standing at over six-foot tall he was likely unused to looking up at anybody.

“No.” Reed paused for a moment, returning Eddy’s glare with equal intensity despite his fear. It gave him no small amount of satisfaction to be the one looking downwards, it made him feel braver than he might have otherwise been. “I don’t think I will.” Finished Reed with a smirk as the scowl on Eddy’s face deepened.

“Then I’ll get you off myself.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Reed tried weakly, the confidence that he’d felt was rapidly draining from him.

“Do you want to bet on it?”

Reed gulped audibly and adverted his eyes, he said nothing.

It took only a few more moments for it to become clear to Eddy that Reed had no intention of dismounting, and he begun to advance to the side of the horse to make good on his promise. Reed looked around wildly trying to find somebody who’d put a stop to this nonsense, but everyone was either too busy to notice or pretending that they were. Reed would not embarrass himself further by calling for help.

“Unhand me at once! What gives you the right!?” Reed cried when Eddy’s large hands encircled his waist. His loud protests would have surly alerted those who were unaware of what was happening, and Reed could indeed hear jeering and laugher as curious onlookers came to inspect the commotion. He felt his face heat, and ceased struggling almost immediately, he would not give the audience watching the pleasure of seeing him act like a petulant child.

“Now where did all that fire go?” Eddy chuckled, before slinging Reed effortlessly across one of his shoulders like a sack of flour. The crowd cheered and whistled, and Reed did his best to not make eye contact with any of them. It was enough that they’d see him be shamed like this, he couldn’t stand to look at the amusement written on their faces as they lost whatever little respect they had for his person.

In his free hand Eddy grabbed Glaucus’s bridle and clicked his tongue to get the beast to start, and he led it through the mass of people which had parted to make room for his passage. He kept a tight grip on Reed’s body to prevent him from slipping and falling, who was pointily ignoring the way that strong, warm arm wrapped around his middle made him feel. This situation was already going poorly enough, he couldn’t afford to have his _deviancy_ make things worse.

Frustratingly, instead of taking Reed directly to whatever destination Eddy had planned, he insisted on making polite small talk with everybody they passed. Queries on the state of the weather or trail were made as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. Reed did not appreciate this obvious attempt at prolonging his suffering, and after the fourth wish for blue skies and a clear path ahead he could stand it no longer.

“Will you let me go now?” He muttered angerly against Eddy’s shoulder, not particularly caring if he’d heard him or not as the hit on the back that Reed gave him likely sent the same message. 

“Was that meant to hurt?” Laughed Eddy, who seemed to be unbothered by the amount of distress that he’d caused Reed, and in fact appeared to find it all rather amusing.

Reed began to struggle in earnest as they cleared the edge of the forest, but Eddy’s hold only tightened further, only stopping to tie Glaucus to a tree. Reed deflated, feeling truly helpless, the only option left to him was to debase himself even further.

“Please let me go.” He begged quietly his tone flat, and Eddy paused only for a moment before placing Reed back on the ground and hurrying backwards to give him space. Neither of them said anything, and Reed took this chance to take stock of his surroundings. If he could find a path that he could slip through he could make a break for it, Eddy’s bulky frame would slow him down whilst Reed’s slender one wouldn’t be hindered by the catching branches of the trees and bushes, hopefully buying him enough time to escape back to safety.

The woods were dense however, the already limited light from the setting sun hardly reached the forest floor making it difficult to see what was directly in front of his face, let alone any possible exit. They couldn’t have strayed far from the main camp as he could still hear the excited screaming of children as they played, wholly unaware of what was occurring just beyond their line of sight. Reed hoped that his own children had been with them, that they had not witnessed this indignity, only one among many as it may be.

He could deal with the disapproval of the others, and had been doing so for the entirety of this journey, but he couldn’t stand the thought of the bright, honest, love his children felt for him fading after they came to the realization of what kind of man their father is. He didn’t deserve their admiration, this he knew, but he craved it. Needed it like a plant needs water to grow.

A sound then, almost resembling a question, came from Eddy breaking Reed from his thoughts. Reed’s eyes snapped to the man who’d up to this point he’d been ignoring, not wanting him to see what was probably plainly written on his face.

While Eddy’s figure was shrouded in the rapidly growing darkness, Reed could still make out the man’s slouched frame. He had seemingly shrunken in size and backed up a couple of paces, perhaps as an effort to make himself seem less threating or it could be an attempt to get Reed to let his guard down. He would not be so easily fooled.

When it became clear that Reed was not going to respond Eddy repeated himself.

“Are you alright?” It was spoken louder this time, but that didn’t make it any easier for Reed to understand.

“Why does it matter?” Reed couldn’t help himself from asking, Eddy succeeded in his goal of making a fool of Reed in front of the entire company. How did his wellbeing factor into that? Was this a way to harm him further, did eddy **_know_** _?_ That can’t be – can it? Reed had been so careful, had to be careful, and yet-

Reed couldn’t breathe, no matter how many big, gulping mouthfuls of air he took in. His legs shook and gave out from under him, and he landed on the ground. He could feel the wetness of the ground seeping through his pants but found he didn’t much care.

Eddy started forwards his hands raised as if he were placating a startled horse, and once he got close enough, he fell to his knees in front of Reed. Eddy didn’t touch him, but his hands were held tense at his sides as if he wanted to.

“I didn’t mean too- “

“You didn’t mean to _what?_ ” Reed replied, no longer staring at the ground but glaring in Eddy’s direction, “What did you think was going to happen when you dragged me off my horse, humiliating me in front of the entire wagon train? I’ve lost whatever respect anybody had for me.” He shoved his face in his hands.

“I didn’t – it was a joke.”

Reed snorted, “A Joke? Is it funny that I’ll become a target now that people know how weak I really am?” He paused to let Eddy digest the true consequences of his actions, the man looked stricken. Reed continued anyway, “I wonder what they’ll do to me, stab me? Hang me? There aren’t many friends of James Reed here.” He laughed, mirthless, but it quickly petered out as Eddy got up and began to pace.

“They ain’t gonna do anything to you, I won’t let them.” Snarled Eddy, making Reed scramble to his feet to put some distance between the two of them. His sudden change in mood scared Reed as much as it confused him. He and Eddy had not exactly been hostile with each other, but neither had they been particularly friendly.

Realizing he startled Reed, Eddy tried again, this time his tone was softer, nearly comforting. “I’ll make this right, I promise you.” He stepped closer and Reed let him, his confusion holding him in place.

“It’ll be alright, you’ll see.” Spoken only at a whisper, and Reed had to stop himself from leaning in to catch it better.

Reed was still confused, he had questions that hadn’t been answered, but before he could ask them Eddy turned, retreating back the way he came.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can follow me on tumblr @john-irving


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